Richard Widmark on why Marilyn Monroe was “godawful” to work with: “Impossible, really”
Few actors embody the good and bad sides of Hollywood quite like Marilyn Monroe. In her pomp, she was the glamorous, bleach-blonde face of superstardom. She was beautiful, she was funny, and she represented the sort of girl everyone wanted, but nobody could have. Then came her decline. Monroe’s tragic death at the age of just 36 shattered the glass for many. Her meteoric rise clearly left her damaged and contributed to her demise, but it has captivated her fans in the decades since. However you view Marilyn, she is, in every sense of the word, an icon.
Despite her semi-mythical status, Monroe wasn’t always beloved by her peers. She could be quite difficult to work with, regularly turning up to shoots late and seemingly prioritising her fame over her colleagues. Billy Wilder, the great director who worked with Monroe on two projects, reportedly almost quit Hollywood because of her. The story of her final unreleased film, Something’s Got to Give, ends with her getting fired a month or so prior to her passing.
Someone else who saw through the façade of the blonde bombshell was Richard Widmark. Best known for his portrayal of antiheroes in films like Kiss of Death and Panic in the Streets, Widmark was cast alongside Monroe in the 1952 movie Don’t Bother to Knock. Directed by British B-movie craftsman Roy Ward Baker, this psychological thriller stars Monroe as Nell Forbes, a babysitter who runs into Widmark’s Jed Towers (great name). The two initially hit it off, and it seems like romance is on the cards, until Nell reveals her true nature.
Widmark’s real opinions on Monroe are worryingly similar to his character’s view of his onscreen squeeze. In an interview with The Telegraph, he recalled their time together on Don’t Bother to Knock and how he felt about his co-star, who was on the cusp of becoming the most famous person on the planet.
“I liked Marilyn, but she was godawful to work with. Impossible, really,” Widmark revealed. “She would hide in her dressing room and refuse to come out. Then, when she finally would show up, she was a nervous wreck. It was all a result of fear. She was insecure about so many things and was obviously self-destructive. She was a wounded bird from the beginning.”
He also described how their relationship was strictly professional, despite their two characters being romantically involved. “I may be the only one she never flirted with,” he wryly remarked.
The comment about Monroe being a ‘wounded bird from the beginning’ might seem a little out of place (and mildly sexist), but it has its roots in the truth. The former Norma Jeane Mortensen had a troubled early life. Her childhood was dogged by a string of abusive stepfathers and stints in foster homes, and she found herself in an unhappy marriage at just 16. All of this trauma goes a long way towards explaining why she may have suffered from anxiety, but Widmark and her other irritated co-stars wouldn’t have seen things that way.
As misunderstood as she was admired, Marilyn Monroe is a name that will be forever tinged with sadness and tragedy. Accounts like Widmark’s shouldn’t tar her image, but rather humanise a woman who, for most of her life, was treated as little more than an object.
